Post by Faithie on Dec 6, 2014 21:27:12 GMT
HUNT GUIDE CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. Unlocking the hunt
3. Ranks and Rewards (updated for 2.5)
4. Daily/weekly marks
5. What to buy
6. Joining a linkshell
7. Joining a static hunt party
8. Using thehunt.tk website
9. Creating macros
10. Etiquette
11. Titles
12. FAQs
13. Updates (current - 2.5)
1. INTRODUCTION
What are hunts? Hunts are an amazing way to get Soldiery Tomes and Allied Seals relatively quickly. They are “elite” mobs with specific spawn times. This, in combination with your expert duty roulette / high level duty roulette, is what you should be focusing on as a fresh level 50 player. That is, at least until you get all your soldiery gear and relic weapon.
2. UNLOCKING THE HUNT
Technically, you do not need to “unlock” hunts in order to participate. However, if you wish to do the weekly/daily hunt marks, those do need to be unlocked. In order to unlock the weekly/daily bill, you must be the highest rank with your Grand Company. Once you are, you will see the quest “Let the Hunt Begin” in your Grand Company headquarters. Complete it. That’s all. If you're not very close to being the highest rank with your Grand Company, I suggest completely skipping this step. (See FAQ for ways to level up in your GC)
3. THE DIFFERENT RANKS AND REWARDS
A RANKS – These spawn roughly every 4 hours. They award 40 Allied Seals and 30 Soldiery Tomestones if you receive full credit for the kill. It is not really necessary to have a full party to receive full credit for A ranks.
S RANKS – These require specific tasks to spawn such as completing many fates in the area, fishing up a special fish, or cliff-diving to your death. Certain hardcore hunt groups will try to spawn these when they are warm/hot. Even if I am capped on Tomes for the week I try to attend these because they’re special and awesome. They award 100 Allied seals, 100 Soldiery Tomestones, and 10 Poetic Tomestomes when you receive full credit. It is nearly impossible to get full credit from S ranks without a full party.
B RANKS – These are only useful if they are your daily / weekly mark. (Or if you are wanting one of the B rank titles.) They give 50 allied seals and 5,000 gil if they are your weekly. They can be soloed and respawn nearly instantly in a new area when killed. They are passive and will not attack you.
Each hunt you kill has a chance of dropping a Unstained Mark Log. These can be used to upgrade your poetics gear. 6 logs will get you a Carbontwine to upgrade your poetics gear (the left side of your character). 4 logs will get you a Carboncoat to upgrade your poetics accessories (right side of your character.)
* As of patch 2.5, Blood-Spattered Mark Logs no longer drop. You can still buy them from your GC Hunts Billmaster to upgrade soldiery gears.
4. DAILY / WEEKLY MARKS
I personally completely skip these. If you want extra allied seals, feel free to pick up the weekly mark. If you’re super desperate for allied seals, pick up the daily ones as well.
You will need to kill the B rank for these. Port to the area where the B rank spawns and shout if anyone has seen the mob. Many times people will have noticed your B mark while just out killing mobs or questing. A list of B ranks and where they spawn can be found here.
5. WHAT TO BUY
Hunts are a goldmine of Soldiery tomes as well as allied seals. Now that you have all these tomes and seals from completing so many hunts, what should you buy?
You will need to buy 3 Thavnarian Mists from Auriana in Mhor Dhona (22,6) to upgrade get your first relic weapon. This is only needed if you plan on doing the relic quest line. (You can read an overview of that quest line in Son's Guide.)
If you’re a “fresh” 50, the next thing(s) you should buy with your tomes is gear for your character. Buy everything until your character has all the gear and accessories available from Aelina in Mhor Dhona (22,6).
You will want to upgrade your soldiery gear (it will be called “Weathered [item]”) with Sands of Time (for gears) or Oils of Time (for accessories). They will upgrade from i100 to i110. In order to upgrade Soldiery gears, visit your Grand Company. Speak with the Hunt Billmaster to buy Blood-Spattered Mark Logs for 250 Allied Seals each. You can turn them in to Aelina in Mhor Dhona (22,6) for Sands/Oils of Time.
If you have have poetics gear, it can be upgraded the same way as soldiery gear, just with Unstained Mark Logs instead. Carbontwine is used for the gears and Carboncoat is used for accessories. They upgrade from i120 to i110.
You can also buy other items here such as GC weapons, etc, but they are really only useful if you would like to glamour your gear to these items. The awesome new gear you just got from completing all these hunts will be much nicer.
*Note that you can also buy soldiery gear from the Hunts Billmaster with allied seals, but I prefer to save my allied seals for Mark Logs or even Alexdandrite (for later relic quests).
6. JOINING A GOOD LINKSHELL
Once hunts are found, linkshells will post coordinates for people to come and help kill the mark. It is important to join a one or two good hunts linkshells. Send me (Faithie Faith) a /tell in game and I’ll try to get you into one of mine. You can also /sh after being in an area where as hunt was killed and ask if anyone has space in a hunting linkshell. New hunts linkshells pop up all the time and are looking for active hunters to join. If you are in a static hunt party, you can also ask them if you can get an invite.
7. JOINING A STATIC HUNT PARTY
I can’t understate the importance of joining a good static hunt party. Many people find out about a hunt, shout for invites to kill the hunt, only to leave the party seconds after the mark is killed. Five minutes later, when the next hunt pops, they’re again shouting for an invite. This is a massive waste of time, especially if you plan on killing all the marks that pop that hour.
The best way to hunt, is to actually hunt. Look in party finder and try to join a hunting party before a hunt is ever called out. This will allow your group to spread out so you have one or two people in each “hot” area where a hunt will be spawning. Ever wonder how people get to hunts so quickly? It’s because they are in hunting parties who actually find the mark.
8. USING THEHUNT.TK
Go this this website and make an account. thehunt.tk/session/Brynhildr (if you are on another server, switch to your own server name.) Aside from being in really good linkshells, this is absolutely your best source for hunt information. The website can be slightly confusing, so I’ll explain how to use it.
On the left you have your list of regions, this can generally be ignored. The center column is what you will primarily be focusing on (the A ranks). On the right you will see S ranks.
WHAT THE COLORS MEAN FOR A RANKS
GREEN – It has been 4 or more hours since the mark last spawned. The area is considered “hot” and the mark will spawn, though they sometimes do appear a bit late.
YELLOW – It has been over 3 hours since the mark last spawned, but not yet 4 hours. These marks are considered “warm” because they can spawn at this time, but it’s not certain that they will spawn like the green “hot” marks.
RED – These marks have been killed under 3 hours ago and are not ready to spawn yet. Ignore hunting in those areas until they show up as yellow/green again.
These are similar for the colors of S ranks, expect S ranks have a longer spawn rate and require specific actions to spawn then.
MARKING THEM OFF
Have you just killed a hunt? Has no one marked it off on the website yet? Well then, you should mark it!
Click the “request permissions” button and someone should give you permissions within a day. All you need to do is, after you find the hunt, double click the teal checkmark that appears when you click the A rank. There is no need to enter a time.Keep in mind, hunts should be marked when you find them, not when you kill them.
**A note on accidentally deleting marks: these can be added back in. Click on the Regional List on the left, and there you can add the rank you deleted back in the same way you would normally mark off other ranks.
9. CREATING MACROS
If you want to call out a hunt to your party, Free Company, or linkshells, macros can be extremely helpful to get this done quickly and efficiently. There are a few different types of macros for hunts, and I will explain each.
MACRO TYPE #1
I use this macro to call out A or S rank hunts when I am actually at the location of the mark. Just click on the mark to target him, and then press your macro to spam alert all your friends where that hunt is. These ones are very basic; feel free to add some fun symbols and make them your own.
For A ranks:
| /p A rank found <t> at <pos> /fc A rank found <t> at <pos> /l1 A rank found <t> at <pos> |
For S ranks:
| /p S rank found! <t> at <pos> /fc S rank found! <t> at <pos> /l1 S rank found! <t> at <pos> |
You can add more linkshells if you’re a member of more than one by adding another line of code. (l1, l2, l3, etc). You can also add in a /sh command if you'd like to shout it out to everyone.
MACRO TYPE #2
I find that I use this macro more frequently, and find it to be more useful than macro type #1 because it allows you to call out a hunt before you are at the location of the mark. This is done with the <flag> command.
Here’s how to use it. When someone calls out the location of a hunt that is an actual link, click it. Once clicked, you will see a blue flag on your map. When you have the flag on your map, you’re all set to use these macros:
For A ranks:
| /p A rank found <flag> /fc A rank found <flag> /l1 A rank found <flag> |
For S ranks:
| /p S rank found! <flag> /fc S rank found! <flag> /l1 S rank found! <flag> |
What if you want to call out a hunt with the <flag> command, but the person who called out the hunt didn't give you a clickable link? You can make your own flag on the map by holding the ctrl key and pressing the right mouse button. After you have flagged you own mini map, you can use the flag macros.
Please note that I have not included any B rank macros. This is because B ranks no longer give rewards unless they are you weekly/daily mark. I generally find it fairly pointless and annoying when people call out B rank in my linkshells.
In conclusion: You should have four different macros for hunts. Two for when you are actually at the hunt, and two for calling them out on the way to the hunt.
10. TITLES
Seeker of Fortune – Kill one of each A rank mark.
Soldier of Fortune – Kill 200 A rank marks.
Seasoned Tracker – Kill one of each S rank mark.
Captain of the Hunt – The ultimate hunts title. Kill 200 S rank mobs.
Hunter for Hire – Kill one of each B rank mark. You do not need to have them as your weekly/daily mark to receive this title.
Bounty Hunter – Kill 300 B ranks.
11. ETIQUETTE & EARLY PULLS
It is generally accepted that, after the mark is found, allow at least a few minutes to pass so people can get there. The person who found the mark is the one who should call the pull time (pt). Respect their pull time. They were the one who found the mark. All pull times are called according to Erozea time. As a general rule of thumb, if the hunt is close to the Aetherite, 30min to 1 hour Erozea time will be given before the hunt is pulled. If the hunt is further away from the Aetherite, 1hr-1:30hr will be given for people to arrive.
If you found the hunt, congrats! You get to call the pull time. Make sure to shout it a few times so everyone knows what time you want them to pull it.
12. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)
Why do people pull early?
As a hunter, I can theoretically understand why people pull early. If you were the one who found the mark, why should you let a bunch of people who weren’t helping you search come to leech and get free rewards? Some hunters will set the pull time very early so only the very connected linkshells and hunting parties can make it in time for a kill.
Some people also do this just to “troll.” Don’t let them ruin your hunting fun. You’ll get the next one. I would additionally not recommend early pulling to troll / have a good time. You will be kicked from your linkshells and make your way onto quite a few blacklists.
Sometimes, “early pulls” are simply someone running into the mob on their way there and not realizing it. Mob mentality sets in and people will start attacking for fear of not getting their rewards.
Can hunts spawn anywhere on the map?
Yes, and no. Hunts tend to gravitate towards certain spawn points, but they can spawn anywhere on the map. imgur.com/a/cwymN#0 here is a link to some common spawn points for hunts. Though they are common, they are not the only places these hunts can spawn.
Do I have to be the highest level in my Grand Company to participate in hunts?
You do not need to be the highest rank in your GC or have completed the quest line "Let the Hunt Begin" to participate in hunts. This is only for the weekly / daily mark.
What if I’m not the highest level with my Grand Company?
There are many ways to gain ranks within your GC. You can grind fates (Coerthas Central Highlands is my choice), do Grand Company Levequests, and turn in pink/green gears for the supply and provisioning “missions” offered at your grand company.
I’m try to get the title where I need to kill one of each A/S/B rank. How do I check which ones I have already killed?
You can’t check that, unfortunately. Keep track of which ones you have killed yourself if you’re interested in getting this title ASAP. Otherwise, you’ll probably get it eventually while just killing hunts.
Thehunt.tk says it's been 6 and a half hours since [mark] was killed? Huh?
This will often happen if you log in during the morning and start hunting. Overnight, people will often neglect to update the website when they find and kill hunts since there are less people online. Keep in mind that the website relies on users like you to keep it up-to-date and accurate with hunt information. If it has been over 8 hours since the hunt was last killed, it's safe to assume it's gone through two four hour rotations, and is due to pop again.
Why isn't the hunt appearing yet? The website says it's hot!
They don't appear right at the four hour mark. I have waited up to 5 hours for a hunt to pop before. Sometimes they just spawn later than others. Odds are that the mark was not “sniped,” though many people try to jump to this conclusion whenever a hunt is a bit late to show up.
13. UPDATES
Patch 2.5 has made hunts relevant again. Here are the key points:
∗ You essentially will need to hunt to upgrade your poetics gear. The items (Carbontwine and Carboncoat) can only be bought with allied seals from your GC huntsmaster. (Unless you plan on beating final coil and getting them that way -- it's difficult.) The only way to get allied seals is to hunt.
∗ People are early pulling. If you plan on hunting, get into an actual hunt party and hunt, because you wont get there in time if you're not actively looking. This will probably die down as more people get their full gear sets upgraded.
∗ You get a free Carboncoat for doing the weekly quest "The Gift of the Archmagus" (Available in MD after you complete World of Darkness for the first time). I would suggest not buying any Carboncoat with your mark logs until you upgrade your left side gear first.
∗ The hunts website (thehunt.tk) is relevant again.
OLD UPDATES:
So, what's new in 2.4 in regards to hunts? Here's my brief list of things to watch out for.
∗ As of 2.4, Mythology Tomes are gone. You still get the same amount of soldiery and allied seals previously mentioned. In later patches, the tome amounts given may be changed.
∗ S ranks drop 10 Tomestones of Poetics maximum. A ranks do not give poetics.
∗ "Antique" i90 gear drops from the new HM dungeons. For example, you can trade in Antique Gauntlets in Mor Dhona at the Diamond Forge (22,5) for any i90 glove you want (bard, whm, etc).
∗ As a fresh 50, I suggest running your High Level and Expert Duty roulettes (as well as doing hunts) to get more soldiery and Poetics.
That's all for now! Have any questions? Send me a /tell in game at Faithie Faith. ^o^
I hope everyone likes it